n
the person he was addressing, "that it would be difficult if not
impossible for any one unconnected with the bank, to approach the vaults
during business hours and abstract anything from them without
detection?"

"And do these gentleman both assert that?" queried Mr. Stuyvesant, with
a sharp look from uncle to nephew.

"I believe they do," replied the detective, as both the gentlemen bowed,
Bertram with an uncontrollable quiver of his lip, and Mr. Sylvester with
a deepening of the lines about his mouth, which may or may not have been
noticed by this man who appeared to observe nothing.

"I should be loth to conclude that the robbery was committed by any one
but a stranger," remarked Mr. Stuyvesant; "but if these gentlemen concur
in the statement you have just made, I am bound to acknowledge that I do
not myself see how the theft could have been perpetrated by an outsider.
Had the box itself been missing, it would be different. I remember my
old friend Mr. A--, the president of the police department, telling me
of a case where a box containing securities to the amount of two hundred
thousand dollars, was abstracted in full daylight from the vaults of one
of our largest banks; an act requiring such daring, the directors for a
long time refused to believe it possible, until a detective one day
showed them another box of theirs which he had succeeded in abstracting
in the same way.[1] But the vaults in that instance were in a less
conspicuous portion of the bank than ours, besides to approach an open
vault, snatch a box from it and escape, is a much simpler matter than to
remain long enough to open a box and choose from its contents such
papers as appeared most marketable. If a regular thief could do such a
thing, it does not seem probable that he would. Nevertheless the most
acute judgment is often at fault in these matters, and I do not pretend
to have formed an opinion."

[Footnote 1: A fact.]

The detective who had listened to these words with marked attention,
bowed his concurrence and asked if the bonds mentioned by Mr. Stuyvesant
were all that had been found missing from the bank. If any of the other
boxes had been opened, or if the contents of the safe itself had ever
been tampered with.

"The contents of the safe are all correct," came in deep tones from Mr.
Sylvester. "Mr. Folger, my nephew and myself went through them this
morning. As for the boxes I cannot say, many of them belong to persons
travelling